It will conduce to clearness if, before making any remarks, I take the liberty of reproducing the title of this address in a slightly enlarged form. In order to convey a precise idea of my object, it will be desirable to frame it thus:—
“On the Evidence (prior to the Excavations commenced in A.D. 1755) for the Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum by the Eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79.”
It will be seen from this way of putting the case, that I propose to confine my attention to documentary evidence. The reference to Vesuvius is also important, because it might conceivably be maintained, and indeed it has been maintained within the present century, that these cities were destroyed by other agencies, and not by the outburst of the neighbouring volcano.